Author: sel gerosa

  • Professional Website Redesign for Fine Arts Gallery

    Professional Website Redesign for Fine Arts Gallery

    Clark Gallery, established in 1976, is a cornerstone art gallery located in Lincoln, MA. They exhibit contemporary artists from the Northeast and nationally. After the end of Flash in 2020, websites had to make a huge shift to maintain their functionality. In this case, they couldn’t add new content to the backend and image slideshows displays, critical for an art gallery, were broken. They came to me looking for a professional website redesign that would allow them to easily update their site, add responsiveness for mobile displays, and modernize the visual style and user experience while keeping the spirit of their original brand aesthetics. Additionally, in preparation of their rare books store launch, they needed an e-commerce platform to enable online sales.

    Left ImageRight Image

    The old homepage was completely broken and didn’t showcase any of the represented artists

    2. Renovating the Website Design

    I determined that Squarespace would be the ideal content management system (CMS) for their website design needs. Not only does it have amazing frameworks for beautifully gridded designs, but it is easy to use (with a little training). I updated the layout and navigation of their website to better showcase their exhibiting artists, including a sorting functionality, a space for news posts and upcoming events, and developed their e-commerce build for their rare books store. An effective professional website redesign for small business needs to be flexible, accessible, and accommodate e-commerce.

    As a result of the relaunch, Clark Gallery has a clean and accessible web presence. They enjoy increased revenue with their new online shop. To ensure the customer’s comfort and ease in using the website, I wrote a comprehensive user guide and provided custom technical support and website training for the following year.

  • Website Design for the Vibrary

    Website Design for the Vibrary

    1. Wine & Vibes at the Vibrary

    The Vibrary is a wine and bookbar in Stone Mountain, GA that’s all about vibes. Their cozy space is ideal for meeting up with friends, trying new wines, and finding your next read. Their founder, Candace, came to me because she needed a website to round out their business launch and connect to their customers.

    vibrary home webpage, squarespace web design

    2. Squarespace Website Design for Retail

    The Vibrary needed a simple website to contextualize what their business is and what they offer, from their rotating menu to a selection of books for sale. We also added scheduling integration to make it easy for customers to check out and sign up for their frequently updated event calendar. And no website is complete without some bespoke illustrations to add color and personality to the pages.

  • Website, Branding, and Illustration for The Copy Canary

    Website, Branding, and Illustration for The Copy Canary

    1. Taking Flight Together: Original Website for Copywriter

    Meet The Copy Canary, also known as Adele Sheiber, a versatile copywriting solopreneur based in Albany, New York. Adele needed a personable, engaging website to round out her business launch and attract digital clients. While she had her text perfected, she struggled to develop a cohesive visual identity for her budding business. That’s where I came in. Together, Adele and I gave wings to her brand’s visual identity, as well as its digital presence, creating a fresh and inviting space for potential clients.

    2. Website Design for Copywriter

    The root of our collaboration lies in the development of a bright and modern website that serves as The Copy Canary’s virtual home. Inspired by her dynamic logo, crafted by the talented Kristina Tran, I developed the color palette and chose a complementary type system. The site predominantly uses Josefin Sans, a round and friendly typeface, and Lobster 2, which parallels the script used in the logo. I selected the CMS Squarespace for its user-friendly interface and easy customization. This empowered Adele to take the reins of her online presence with confidence.

    3. Icon Set

    One of the standout features of this project was creating an icon set of charming canaries wearing a variety of hats. These icons not only added a playful and memorable touch to the website but also communicated the essence of The Copy Canary’s personality – approachable, professional, and delightful. Crafting these icons required both technical finesse and a keen eye for detail as I developed their clean yet organic style. They have since become a hallmark of The Copy Canary’s visual identity, enhancing user engagement and leaving a lasting impression.

    9 line drawings of canaries wearing different hats
    look at these cuties!

    Adele Sheiber

    The Copy Canary

    Sel is a genius. I really believe this. They took my half-baked ramblings, random sketches, and desperate wishes and transformed them into my dream website. I could not have launched such a polished and authentic web presence without them and I will be raving about them to literally everyone I know forever. Bonus Points: They’re super responsive and easy to work with. Stop reading and hire them already. You won’t regret it.

    4. Follow-On Work

    Our collaboration didn’t stop at the website launch. After the initial launch, I worked with Adele to create two engaging vector illustrations for The Copy Canary’s digital marketing efforts. These illustrations strengthen the brand’s identity and social media presence.

    hr manager finding a resume illustration
    career timeline with canaries
    Adele’s Career Journey
  • Charming Business Card, Logo, and Pixel Art Illustration for Voice Actor

    Charming Business Card, Logo, and Pixel Art Illustration for Voice Actor

    1. Magical Visuals: Branding and Illustration for LovelyDorrie

    Dorrie Sacks, AKA LovelyDorrie is a writer, internet host, and voice actor. She commissioned me to design her a new business card, but this project quickly expanded into a full brand reimagining. As a digital host and social media personality, we wanted to create a digital persona she could use for profile pictures and a strong brand foundation she could apply to ventures like Twitch streams and brand partnerships.

    pixel art illustration logo animation

    2. Pixel Art Illustrations

    Taking inspiration from magical girl anime such as Sailor Moon and Madoka Magica, visual novel games like Doki Literature Club, and soft goth + lolita fashion, I illustrated a cute and whimsical heroine. This project required a keen eye for detail, and the final pixel art illustrations are full of references. Magical girl aesthetics often use cute aesthetics at the surface level, but the storylines often feature scary, grim, and tragic aspects. To achieve that blend of cute and creepy, I gave Magical Girl-Dorrie a microphone magic staff, a lolita maid’s dress, and is full of broken heart accents. I also just had to include her magical kitty sidekicks Pepper and Layla.

    The logo is illustrated as if it was made of looping ribbons and evokes anime titles. For the business card itself, I was inspired by video game title screens.

    Dorrie Sacks AKA LovelyDorrie

    Voice Actor & Influencer

    Sel is an absolute joy to work with. When I commissioned them to create brand collateral for me, I knew I was in good hands because they care about getting every detail perfect. While working on the design, they sent me concept art and sketches so that I had a voice throughout the process. I am overjoyed with the results and I would absolutely work with them again.

  • Digital Marketing Design and Social Campaign Management

    Digital Marketing Design and Social Campaign Management

    1. Driving Inclusive Research: Digital Science

    Digital Science is a technology portfolio group that makes research more efficient, inclusive, and accessible. As a marketing associate, I created eye-catching digital marketing designs and wrote copy for their website and social media, as well as fostering connections between the group and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) professionals. During my time there, I also researched and designed infographics, did extensive work in Pardot, and produced several educational videos.

    2. Digital Marketing Design for the FailTales Social Campaign

    An important component to digital marketing design is creating organic content to drive traffic to the company pages. One of the coolest projects I worked on was an organic campaign aimed at reframing failures in STEM as learning experiences. The campaign, #failtales, created a dialogue around failure and embracing its outcomes, no matter what they might be. An educational campaign is a great way to increase viewership and associate the brand with being a trustworthy and informative. In addition to creating graphics for the native social campaign, I wrote a blog, organized a submission-based contest, and hosted an event at their headquarters in London.

  • Commercial Advertising Design for Luxury Wine Events

    Commercial Advertising Design for Luxury Wine Events

    1. Quenching the Thirst for Standout Advertising Design: Zachys Fine Wine

    Zachys Fine Wine is an international wine store and auction house based in New York. With a small marketing team of two, they needed an extra hand to fill the gaps during their busy auction season. I primarily created promotional advertising designs to entice customers to attend in-store events and purchase their large variety of wines.

    zachys logo commercial advertising design

    2. Compelling Advertising Design

    Engaging graphics are critical for retail marketing because they draw in customers. It is important to not only showcase the product, but to engage audiences with attractive, tone-setting graphics. I designed assets to advertise their in-store tasting events in a variety of different aspect ratios. They were used across multiple channels including social media, display networks, and at the brick-and-mortar storefront. I also crafted in-store design collateral, such as tabloid and face plate posters advertising upcoming events, merchandise sale banners, and featured cocktail recipe cards.

    They were so pleased with my dependable work ethic and quality assurance that I continued to work with them after the season ended. They were migrating their online auction service to a new website and needed an impeccable eye to edit images of every wine label. I ultimately edited and organized over 8,000 images for their new auction website.

  • Precision Technical Illustration and Packaging Design for E-86 Shoe

    Precision Technical Illustration and Packaging Design for E-86 Shoe

    1. From Sketch to Stride: Crafting Exceptional Shoes

    Ben Harkham is a shoe designer who was preparing his brand E-86 to produce his first luxury boot design. He needed a graphic designer’s eye to support a refined and high-quality deliverable. My work spanned the entire production process, including logo refinement, footwear technical illustration, packaging design, and e-commerce solution.

    e-86 logo and shoe, Footwear Technical Illustration
    digitized logo with gridlines, Footwear Technical Illustration

    2. Logo Digitization

    I transformed the client’s conceptual pencil sketch into a high-quality vector logo. This allowed me to perfect the symmetry and spacing and format the image file for accessible scaling and to prevent distortion upon future use.

    3. Footwear Technical Illustration

    I rendered a footwear technical illustration which was used as a blueprint for his new boot’s tread. It was critical to illustrate the ‘x’ shape cutting through each tread in an explainable visual for factory production.

    Footwear Technical Illustration, tread diagram

    Tread Design from Client Sketch to Produced Boot

    4. Packaging Design

    E-86 is a streetwear brand with an industrial aesthetic. Following that visual direction, I created a technical diagram of the various components of the shoe and overlayed it with the shoe’s features and logo to decorate the shoe’s box. The box also features a cutout for a lace to mimic the eyelets on the boot. Additionally, I designed the product information sticker based on the logo and a train station departure board.